Shareability disguised soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo for a viral video promoting ROC Live Life Hard, the latest fashion headphones brand to attach its name to a big name celebrity (in this case, Ronaldo himself).
After dressing Ronaldo up in fake facial hair and a padded body suit and schlubby clothing, the agency sent him to a busy plaza in his hometown of Madrid. Ronaldo hangs around the city plaza, kicking around a soccer ball with increasingly impressive moves while still going undetected. Finally, after beginning to sign a ball for a kid, he takes off the fake mustache and beard to reveal his true identity, as the boy smirks with the knowledge that he’s just been given a very valuable keepsake.
The video appeared on social media outlets without any paid promotion, racking up over 33 million views on Facebook and 3 million on YouTube since being uploaded two days ago. Despite its viral success, it’s not without its faults. There’s the four-minute length, which easily could have been cut to half that with proper editing. But the even bigger problem is that while its myriad viewers will likely remember the stunt, few will remember its connection to the ROC brand, as the connection to the two is not immediately clear and the brand doesn’t even get a mention until the very end of the spot (and we’re guessing most people will stop watching with the reveal).
“He’s a very serious guy who plays and trains 98 percent of the time, so we wanted to show him in a way he’s never been seen before,” Tim Staples, one of Shareability’s founders, explained to Adweek. “We thought it would be really fun to take the biggest athlete in the world and hide him in plain sight.”